It is a 2-1/2 story masonry structure, built out of red brick with brownstone trim.

It is stylistically a mixture of Italianate and Romanesque elements, reflective in part of its evolutionary growth.

[2] The school was built in 1879 to serve what was then a predominantly Irish immigrant neighborhood.

It was enlarged in 1890, by which time the neighborhood had acquired a mix of residents from eastern and southern Europe, and again in 1895.

The original portion was designed by Miles Pritchard, a local architect; the 1895 addition was designed by Joseph A. Jackson, a prominent local architect of commercial and institutional buildings.